Matthew Eappen

The English have been on a long, giddy pub crawl of late. They love their new prime minister, Tony Blair, who has a loopy, toothy grin and lets his kids go out in public wearing polo shirts and corduroys, while the poor Royals still get trussed up in sport coats and ties. They pat themselves on the back for showing the world they could weep over the death of Princess Diana and rebuke the Queen Mum for keeping a stiff upper lip. They've decided it's alright again to laugh at Prince Charles and his...

On Oct. 30, 1735, John Adams, the nation's second president, was born in Braintree, Mass. In 1885 poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho. In 1912 Vice President James Sherman died in office. In 1953 Gen. George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and Dr. Albert Schweitzer belatedly received his 1952 Nobel. In 1961 the Soviet Union, ignoring world protests, detonated a 58-megaton hydrogen bomb in an Arctic test. In 1972 an Illinois Central...

`Why did they do that to me? I'm only 19.' -- British nanny Louise Woodward after she was sentenced to life in prison Friday. She was found guilty of shaking to death a child in her care, 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

Former British au pair Louise Woodward was barred Friday from profiting from her story under a settlement with the family who had sued her over their child's death. Woodward, convicted of manslaughter for the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, was sued in federal court last year by the infant's parents. The settlement, reached before the case went to trial in Boston, ensures that Woodward "does not profit from the killing of their 8-month-old baby," the Eappens' lawyer,...

A grave injustice was done in the Matthew Eappen case. A more appropriate sentence would have been to reduce Louise Woodward's sentence to manslaughter and to give her 20 years with no parole. She would then be released at age 39, having paid for her crime but with most of her life ahead of her. That is more than she gave the Eappen baby. Releasing her on time considered served reduces the impact of the judicial system, opening us up for even more severe crimes against humanity.

A federal judge ruled that former au pair Louise Woodward must pay damages for the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen and set a January trial date to decide the amount. U.S. District Judge William Young on Thursday refused to set aside a default judgment against Woodward in a civil wrongful death lawsuit. "Ms. Woodward is precluded from relitigating in this case the issue of whether punitive damages are warranted. The default stands," he said. Drs. Sunil and Deborah...

By From Tribune News Services. Tribune staff writer Douglas Holt in Chicago contributed to this report | November 12, 1997

One day after the revocation of her life sentence in prison, Louise Woodward broke her silence Tuesday to say she was adamant about seeking "total vindication" in a risky appeals process that would "further justify" a judge's decision to reduce her conviction for murder in the death of Matthew Eappen to manslaughter and limit her sentence to time served. Woodward, of Elton, England, said she was "deeply saddened" by Matthew's death. She acknowledged that the baby's parents, Sunil...

The highest court in Massachusetts upheld a reduced sentence for British au pair Louise Woodward on Tuesday, handing down a 4-3 decision that effectively ends the criminal case followed by millions. The ruling left Woodward, who was convicted last fall of killing an 8-month-old boy in her care, finally free to go home, though not free of the pain of her case. The parents of the infant, Matthew Eappen, immediately filed a civil suit against Woodward in federal court, seeking unspecified damages...

A trial will begin Monday in a lawsuit filed by Boston-area parents against an au pair agency that supplied a family with a male au pair who turned out to be a pedophile. The civil damage suit, the first of its kind against an au pair agency, was filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge--the same courthouse where British au pair Louise Woodward was tried last year in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. The families have sued the Au Pair in America agency, which...

Prosecution and defense lawyers Monday appealed a judge's ruling on convicted British au pair Louise Woodward, which could decide if she goes home to England or back to jail. Woodward was convicted by a Massachusetts jury of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, but a judge hearing the case reduced the conviction to manslaughter, sentenced her to time served and freed her. Prosecutors say judge Hiller Zobel over-reached his authority in setting aside the verdict, which...

One of the first defense witnesses for a British au pair accused in the death of a baby boy testified Friday that he had evidence the infant's lethal injuries occurred weeks earlier. Dr. Jan Leestma, a forensic neuropathologist, spent three hours telling jurors of signs that Matthew Eappen, 8 months old, had suffered an earlier skull fracture and a blood clot. Prosecutors charged Louise Woodward, 19, with murder in the February death. They say she shook...

Louise Woodward's au pair agency no longer will pay her legal costs, her parents said Monday. Instead, some of the more than $330,000 raised by Woodward's supporters will help fund an appeal, they said. Legal fees had been covered by EF Au Pair, the agency that placed the 19-year-old British woman with the family of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. On Oct. 30, a jury convicted Woodward of second-degree murder for the baby's death. A judge reduced the verdict to manslaughter and the...

Massachusetts' highest court upheld the reduced conviction and sentence of British au pair Louise Woodward Tuesday, clearing the way for her to return to England. "The sentence imposed by the judge is lawful. The conviction of manslaughter, together with the sentence imposed, shall stand," the state's Supreme Judicial Court said in a 4-3 ruling that upheld the decision by Superior Court Judge Hiller B. Zobel. Woodward, 20, was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder for the death last year of...

A trial will begin Monday in a lawsuit filed by Boston-area parents against an au pair agency that supplied a family with a male au pair who turned out to be a pedophile. The civil damage suit, the first of its kind against an au pair agency, was filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge--the same courthouse where British au pair Louise Woodward was tried last year in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. The families have sued the Au Pair in America agency, which...

I know that often good comedy must "live on the edge." But the editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution that depicted British au pair Louise Woodward shaking a can of paint, with the caption "English au pair Louise Woodward is freed and immediately finds work in a hardware store," was way over the edge (Op-Ed, Nov. 21). To make light of the shaking death of the infant is the kind of crass, low-class sight gag that I would expect from Hustler magazine, not the Chicago Tribune.

I know that often good comedy must "live on the edge." But the editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Constitution that depicted British au pair Louise Woodward shaking a can of paint, with the caption "English au pair Louise Woodward is freed and immediately finds work in a hardware store," was way over the edge (Op-Ed, Nov. 21). To make light of the shaking death of the infant is the kind of crass, low-class sight gag that I would expect from Hustler magazine, not the Chicago Tribune.

The jury in the trial of an English au pair charged with murdering a baby deliberated for a second day without a verdict Wednesday and asked for a transcript of key medical testimony. Prosecutors contend 19-year-old Louise Woodward shook 8-month-old Matthew Eappen on Feb. 4 and slammed his head against a hard surface. He died later in a hospital. Medical experts testified for the defense that the child died from an injury caused at least three weeks earlier. Jurors asked...

Prosecutors on Tuesday appealed a judge's decision that freed the British au pair convicted in the death of a baby in her care. The appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which had been expected, argues Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel was wrong to reduce the conviction of Louise Woodward from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter for killing 8-month-old Matthew Eappen. "If this judge could arrive at this result upon these facts, then every trial judge would have the...

Prosecution and defense lawyers Monday appealed a judge's ruling on convicted British au pair Louise Woodward, which could decide if she goes home to England or back to jail. Woodward was convicted by a Massachusetts jury of second-degree murder in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, but a judge hearing the case reduced the conviction to manslaughter, sentenced her to time served and freed her. Prosecutors say judge Hiller Zobel over-reached his authority in setting aside the verdict, which...